Category: Comics
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Year 100 started with Jim Gordon (named after granddad) not knowing anything about “The Bat-Man of Gotham” and thinking it was an unlikely urban legend in the first issue to revealing he was the warden of Arkham Asylum. And it was filled with super-villains. And then he let the federal police kill them all, getting…
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Frank Chiaramonte inks the Ploog this issue, resulting in some really good art, but not the sublime standard Ploog’s set doing his own inks. It seems like Chiaramonte takes over a few pages into the comic; after a while, the faces lose that Ploog character. The expressiveness. Or maybe, since it’s eventually just the villain,…
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This issue is where I jumped off Kill or Be Killed the last time I tried reading it. The funny part is I’m now utterly dispassionate about the issue. Sure, I can see where Sean Phillips’s lagging art would’ve bothered me—Dylan runs into his ex-girlfriend (who I think they teased in the first or second…
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This issue is weird. The story’s weird, and the issue’s weird. The story’s weird because it’s about the Legion committing numerous intergalactic crimes because their financial benefactor is in danger. The issue’s weird because, well, the art is… lacking. And the art’s from Walt Simonson and Jack Abel. I’m not the most well-read on Simonson,…
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About a third of this issue is talking heads. First, it’s unnamed Batman 2039 and his team—including a new Robin, who starts the issue working on a bitchin’ motorcycle for Bats—talking through what led up to last issue’s issue-long chase sequence, and then it’s cop Gordon and his gang looking through the archives for information…
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Werewolf by Night’s got a cliffhanger to resolve at the beginning of its first issue, which is awkward. Especially since writer Gerry Conway’s going to take so many shortcuts. He’s in a race to resolve everything, concluding in a breakneck single-page wrap-up, and he never gets a chance to setup Werewolf as its own book.…
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The most unrealistic thing about Kill or Be Killed is Dylan isn’t a white supremacist. Like, historically speaking. Also, his classes in graduate school. Much of this issue’s about him trying to find his next target, starting with a subway fantasy about taking out a couple punks, but then it turns out he’s just watching…
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The cover promises an “epic-length novel,” which apparently works out to sixty-one pages. It’s four chapters, starting with Superboy traveling to the future for Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad’s wedding. Once there, he discovers a militaristic world where the Legion (and the U.S.) is fighting moon colonists, led by the Chinese. We find out later…
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As a series, Ginseng Roots is a litany of successes; some are unimaginable because of the content (who knew Wisconsin ginseng farming trivia could be so engaging), but the overall success is creator Craig Thompson’s ability to present the information. This issue’s all about the current ginseng industry through the perspective of one company—Hsu’s Ginseng…
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The issue opens with a splash page of Jack Russell, in his hip seventies clothes, waking from a nightmare about being the Werewolf by Night (unsure if it’s a nightmare or a werewolf outing), and it’s somehow obvious the art this issue’s going to be superior. In that one page, artist Mike Ploog gets in…
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What is the deal with the heads? Seriously, this issue starts with talking heads between Dylan and Kira—which has numerous issues—and it really looks like artist Sean Phillips cut out a head and pasted it on a body. But without adjusting the scale. It’s comically weird, though it does improve in the rest of the…
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This issue came out over a year after the previous one, and creator Beto Hernandez does some deck cleaning, mostly for Luba and Khamo’s so-far series-long arc about him being in trouble with the police. But first, there’s a Steve Stransky story; Steve’s been in Luba before (and maybe New Love) as Guadalupe’s friend, but…
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This first issue of Batman: Year 100 is an all-action issue. It’s the future, so people can get around pretty quickly, including federal cops flying around in, I don’t know, hovercraft. Helicopter cabins without rotors or skids. But the future’s also got its low-tech; the first sequence has a pack of police dogs chasing “The…
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Who’s James Sherman, and why have I never heard of him before? He pencils two of the three stories in the issue, with Bob McLeod inking him on the first, Joe Rubinstein on the second, and he’s good. He’s a little too designed-focused, but more on the second story, and the design element comes from…
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There is no backup story in this issue, just Jack Russell’s third adventure as Werewolf by Night. Writer Gerry Conway—through Jack and the werewolf’s narration—is very clear about it; the first outing as the werewolf was two months ago, meaning we’re skipping Jack’s second Larry Talboting and going straight to the third. There’s not much…
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I’m not reading the back matter on Kill or Be Killed for lengthy reasons, but if there’s some explanation why artist Sean Phillips is drawing the twenty-somethings with odd bodies—their heads are too big for their bodies and slightly too round—I may regret not knowing. May. This issue opens with another of the illustrated micro-prose,…
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This issue’s got two stories, benefits of being a fifty-two-page giant on the regular. The first story’s by Paul Levitz, Mike Grell, and Vince Colletta. Colletta also inks the second story, but the rest of the team’s different; second story is Gerry Conway and George Tuska. The comic itself is basically burying the lede—Conway’s second…
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From the first page, it’s clear there’s going to be something special about Werewolf by Night. The narration tells us we’re in modern Los Angeles, but artist Mike Ploog visualizes it like an old Universal horror movie set. The architecture, anyway; the accruements are all modern. The page has three panels; the first two have…
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Kill or Be Killed kicks off with approximately thirty-three pages of story. I feel like it’s got to be thirty-two, but the quick count was thirty-three. And writer Ed Brubaker packs those thirty-three pages. The comic starts with a bunch of gory action killing as our hero, Dylan, shotguns a bunch of bad guys. Well,…
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I’m going with DC’s current conventional wisdom on where to start reading Paul Levitz Legion of Super-Heroes (based on their latest collection of those issues), and I’m not surprised to see the first issue in that run written by Gerry Conway. Back to the seventies, where creator runs were short and had to be nimble.…
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This issue is primarily a comedy soap opera, expertly executed by creator Beto Hernandez. But first, he does the opening Luba story, only it’s a Khamo story. Juxtaposed against Luba and Ofelia herding the children—and getting ready for Socorro to go away to gifted school—is Khamo and the “cops” he’s helping. It turns out he’s…
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I can only assume the cast getting teleported away at the end of the feature story will matter in later Earth-Prime issues. Maybe they’re doing the Arrowverse version of the Beyonder. While I’ve been aware of the series (an “in-continuity” comic story for the CW Arrowverse shows, which are all now mostly canceled), I didn’t…
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This issue’s got three stories, but thanks to creator Beto Hernandez’s structure of the second one, it feels like four stories. The first story is the Luba story, though something in story two (and a half) calls back to one of her solo stories even though she’s not actually in it. Beto just opens with…
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There’s an unfortunate yikes factor to Flung Out of Space. The graphic novel recounts author Patricia Highsmith’s early 1950s experiences as comic book writer turned famous mystery author who just happens to be gay at a time, as dudes love reminding her, it’s a crime. Unfortunately, Highsmith was also a bigot. And the way Flung…
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I was initially lukewarm about this issue—well, as lukewarm as one can get about an expertly executed, inspiredly plotted comic—but I’ve come around. Sort of. The issue’s got two big features, with the Luba one coming in at fourteen pages (give or take a splash page), which is the most space creator Beto Hernandez has…
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Creator Beto Hernandez again opens the issue with a roll call, separating out Luba’s kids, her extended family, and, finally, Pipo and her assorted boys. The roll call’s important primarily for Socorro, who last issue’s cast list didn’t identify by name. Socorro’s going to have a reasonably big story this issue. But, first, there’s the…
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It's a little strange for a twenty-four-year-old comic to hear your requests from the future, but creator Beto Hernandez opens Luba #2 with a cast introduction, just like I wanted. Though it sort of just points out how much I actually remembered and the two things I forgot—whether Pipo was related to Luba (she's not)…
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Until this issue, Batman ’89 has been so light on Commissioner Gordon you’d think Pat Hingle’s estate wasn’t letting them use likeness. But he’s got a big part this issue, only for him to come off like a complete asshole. Potentially one who doesn’t like daughter Barbara dating a Black guy but lies to her…
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If the first issue is any indication, Luba is going to be an anthology series. Now, obviously, the first issue may not be any indication. I think creator Gilbert Hernandez stuck to the anthology format for all of New Love, the first Love and Rockets sequel, and a Luba prequel. Venus, who Beto focused on…
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Part of me wants to know how creator Jaime Hernandez came up with Penny Century’s arc. The series began with the return of Ray Dominguez, revealing he had a previously unrevealed history with Penny Century, going halfway through Love and Rockets: Volume One. Throughout the series, which mainly dealt with the death of H.R. Costigan,…
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